It is day #14 of Something Wicked Strikes. We are almost to the half way mark. I hope you are still loving all the guest posts and giveaways. Speaking of.... here are the must visit stops today:
Maja @The Nocturnal Library: Kristen Painter
Here on Rainy Day Ramblings, I am taking a break from all things Wicked today to bring you Tell Me Something Tuesday.
Welcome to Tell Me Something Tuesday. A weekly discussion post here on Rainy Day Ramblings where I discuss a wide range of topics from books to blogging. Weigh in and join the conversation by adding your thoughts in the comments. If you want to do your own post, grab the question and answer it on your blog.
This week's topic:
What are some of your favorite Halloween traditions?
Halloween is my second favorite holiday of the year. I have always loved the decorations, costumes and all the spooky stuff. I look forward to October every year, especially now that I have kids. Through the years, there are a few things that I try and do every year to get into the spirit. Here are my Halloween traditions:
Halloween decorations: My mom always decorated our house every year for Halloween and we kids loved dragging out the cardboard boxes and putting up the decorations. Back in the eighties, Halloween decorations are nothing like they are now. Ours consisted mostly of cupboard hangups that we taped up. It didn't matter, we loved them, and year after year they covered our walls. I have been collecting little Halloween decorations since I got my own place. I tend to like more of the friendly type decorations vs. the scary. My favorite decorations are the ones that light up. My entire mantel is covered with Halloween decorations that are made to hold candles, so I put in a flameless candle with a timer and every night our mantle flickers with our Halloween friends. This year, I got around to making the Halloween pumpkin banner that I bought right after Risa was born. We spent an entire weekend outdoors in September painting and glittering the jack o lantern faces. It turned out super cute.
Trick or Treating: Now I had to go on a hiatus from trick or treating once I turned thirteen, but that doesn't mean I still didn't love it. Even when I didn't go out hunting for candy, I enjoyed handing out candy to all the kids. I love seeing all the costumes, some of them are so darn cute. My kids are old enough now to really get out and enjoy trick or treating, and we love going. Last year, I found out what a gold mine our street is. We live on a steep hill so we don't get a lot of trick or treaters, so the neighbors go all out. There is a big haunted Halloween alley at the bottom of the hill and the guy that runs it gives out to each trick or treater three full size candy bars. He isn't the only one, there were several houses on the hike up the hill that gave out full size candy bars. I would have loved that in my day as I hiked the neighborhood for what seemed like hours and got a lot of dum dum suckers, Tootsie rolls and small candy. It was still loads of fun.
Risa Halloween 2013
Pumpkin Patch: Growing up, we didn't have pumpkin patches, they started becoming more popular in the nineties. Now days, you can find a pumpkin patch near you no matter where you live here in Portland. There is a plethora of pumpkin patches, you just have to decide what you want to do. We went to one last weekend. The weather was lovely and the kids had a great time. At this patch, we paid five dollars a head and that included a trip through the haunted hay maze, it was dark in there!, a ride on the tractor out to the pumpkin fields, and your choice of pumpkin from the patch. We came home with four pumpkins, two big ones, a white one and one covered with warts. It should be fun carving them....
Risa and Mateus at the Pumpkin Patch 2013
Risa and Matues at the Pumpkin Patch 2014
Pumpkin carving: I love pumpkin carving. It was one of the highlights of Halloween, especially when I was old enough to do my own carving. I love hollowing out the pumpkin and scooping out all the guts and creating a fun face. One year, I put red marker for blood all over the side of my pumpkin, stabbed a big knife in it with a sign that said YOU! Some of the carving creations you see these days are amazing!
Spooky books and movies: Obviously, I love reading spooky/paranormal books during October to celebrate the season. I have always enjoyed watching and reading Halloween themed shows and books. I remember growing up when they used to have the tv specials on for Halloween every year, and I loved watching them. My all time favorite Halloween must see movie is Disney's The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. I could care less about Toad, but I sure loved Ichabod. I used to watch all kinds of scary movies, but as I have grown older, I don't watch many anymore, mostly because I have kids running around and I don't want them to get scared. I am on the hunt for more family friendly Halloween movies, any suggestions?
Halloween Treats: What is Halloween without a few treats? For whatever reason, this is the time of year I crave caramel. I try and make a batch of caramel corn every years to satisfy my craving. I think my love of caramel corn comes from my grandma. When I was little, my grandma used to spend hours making homemade caramel corn popcorn balls to hand out to the trick or treaters. I loved getting one of those balls. No one can make homemade stuff like that anymore, sad......
Anyway, these are a few of my Halloween Traditions. What about you all? What do you during October to celebrate?
Next week's TMST:
Ghosts and things that go bump in the night, do you believe in them or not? Why?
